Men's Swimming and Diving Faces Brown, Penn in Ivy League Duals

Jan 19, 2011

Harvard sits atop the Ivy League standings with a 3-0 conference record this season (Harvard Athletic Communications).

The Particulars The Harvard men's swimming and diving team gets the 2011 portion of its schedule underway with dual meets at Brown Friday and home against Penn Sunday. The meet against Brown marks the teams' first competition since a 182-118 win over Connecticut Dec. 4.

Dual Meet History Harvard has had some of its best races against both the Bears and the Quakers. In 79 career dual races with the Bears, the Crimson has earned 77 wins, falling to the Bears in 1939 by one point (38-37) and again in 1992 by five points (124-119). Harvard is currently on a 16-meet win streak against Brown and downed the Bears, 127-116, at Blodgett in the last meeting between the teams.

The Crimson has had similar success against Penn, putting together a 65-2 overall record against the Quakers. Harvard's last loss to Penn came in 1971 and the Crimson has captured all 36 duals since then. Last year, the Crimson traveled to Philadelphia and topped the Quakers, 183-117, in their home pool.

A Look At the Opposition Penn enters the weekend with the most league results in the Ancient Eight, having compiled a 3-3 record in conference action. After dropping a trio of Ivy meets and a non-league dual to Connecticut in November, the Quakers responded with three straight wins to start the New Year. Penn downed Brown, 173-127, Jan. 5 and then defeated Yale (153-147) and Dartmouth (177-123) Jan. 15 in a tri-meet.

Brown will be swimming in just its second league meet when it faces the Crimson as the loss to Penn Jan. 5 represents the teams only Ivy action. However, the Bears have had success in their non-league slate, taking down local foes Bryant (153-61) and Providence (157-61) to start the season and topping Boston University, 172-126, in their most recent contest.

Last Time Out Harvard wrapped up the 2010 portion of its schedule with a convincing 182-118 win over Connecticut at Wolff-Zackin Natatorium.

Gregory Roop led a 1-2-3 finish in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:35.77 and Jack Pretto followed two events later with a 1-2 finish in the 100 backstroke. Owen Wurzbacher earned a win in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 57.52 and Nicholas Tan and Niall Janney registered a 1-2 finish in the 200 butterfly. With a time of 20.90, Oliver Lee took the 50 free event.

The Crimson divers faced some stiff competition in the Huskies, but rookie Joe Zarrella posted Harvard's best result with a second-place finish in the one-meter competition. Chris Satterthwaite recorded a win in the 100 free in 46.05 and Will Heyburn was right on his heels at 47.22. Tan chipped in a second event win in the 100 fly, posting a time of 50.16 and Wes Stearns eked out a win in the 500 free, besting his UConn competitor by eight-tenths of a second. Janney earned the final event win for Harvard, and his second of the day, with a time of 1:54.52 in the 200 individual medley.

Next Up The Crimson faces its last test before hosting the Ivy League Championships as it takes on fellow undefeated Ivy League team Princeton and rival Yale in the annual HYP meet, Jan. 29-30 in New Haven, Conn.